Akatsuki's Demon Brothers
by freexfalling
Summary: Uchiha Kai has never fit in with his brothers, Itachi and Sasuke. As he relives his life through his memories, what will he discover about himself and will he be able to reconcile himself with it?


My eyes were tired, really tired, but I kept my Sharingan on and continued to attack the other shinobi. My o-nii-san made short work of his attacker and Hoshigaki Kisame quickly killed his off. Only me left..._ Why am I always the last one to finish? _I thought bitterly as I slit the last shinobi's throat._ I'm always last, even when we were little kids I was last. Itachi is just better than me..._

My twin brother came and put his hand on my shoulder. Yes, Uchiha Itachi is my twin brother, only two minutes older than me. It didn't mean anything to us. We were always on equal footing and did everything together, or everything we were allowed to do. Itachi was closer to me than anyone else, he was my twin and even if there were two minutes between us, it shouldn't have mattered to anyone, but it did. Those two minutes were the world to everyone else; it was like I didn't even exist to my father. My brother was the prodigy and I was just second best, just a part of the scenery, and then when my o-tooto-san was born, I was thrust even farther into the background. My brothers received all the attention and I never did. Itachi-nii never forgot me though and our act against the clan made me unforgettable to Sasuke too. Itachi and I went down in history as the Demon Brothers, right now the Akatsuki's Demon Brothers.

I glanced at him and he shot me a smirk; I glared ahead stonily and he sighed.

"You're strong Kai; you just have to believe it," he told me quietly so Kisame wouldn't hear.

I continued to ignore him and he sighed silently. Kisame was looking at us quizzically and when Itachi turned around to face him, his face was back to its normal scowl.

"Let's go," he ordered harshly.

_Even here, he's the leader..._

We turned away from the sight of the massacre and began to run towards the hideout. It would take us a couple of days to get there and on the way we would pass through Konohagakure no Sato, just to check up on our little brother's nightmares. I smirked; my father may have forgot about me, but during his absence someone had seen fit to teach me and we might just see him if he was still after my o-tooto-san.

That night, I lay out under the stars in our campsite. It was beautiful; I'd admit that. I thought for a moment about the life I'd led before the Akatsuki, before our clan massacre, and I wondered what life would've been like if I'd stayed. What would've happened if she Sasuke ever found time to talk to me? Would I have abandoned my twin, the person who knew me better than anyone else? Chosen one brother over the other? What if I hadn't killed Jadyn, would Itachi just have killed him too?

My mind wandered and I was brought back to the time before we left.

**x Flashback x **

_"Konichiwa Jadyn!" I called out to my best friend. _

_He turned around and smiled at me. Uchiha Jadyn was one of my cousins and I'd befriended him on the request of my surrogate father. I walked up next to him and he continued towards the forest where he'd been headed before I called out to him. _

_"Where're you going, J'yn?" I asked curiously. _

_He smiled at me mysteriously, answering, "Have you ever wanted to be a shinobi Kai?" _

_I looked at him strangely, hiding my growing panic. __**Did he know?**_

_"You know that my father expressly forbid anyone to teach me," I told him bitterly, turning away. _

_"So?" Jadyn asked, stopping in the middle of a forest clearing. "I've seen you practicing by yourself and I know you have your Sharingan already, don't you?" _

_His eyes were warm as he touched my cheek, making me smile as I flashed my eyes at him. _

_"Well, we decided to teach you some more," he told me happily. _

_"We?" I asked. _

_"Itachi-sama, Shisui-chan, and me," he answered simply as they stepped out of the shadows, my brother smiling proudly. _

_We'd only been seven. Shisui and J'yn nine._

**x End Flashback x**

I was awakened from my memories as Kisame snorted in his sleep. I glared at him and my eyes softened as I turned to my twin. He was fast asleep and his face was peaceful. As if he felt me looking at him, his eyes opened.

"Sleep Kai," he told me. "You will need it."

"I'll take first watch," I told him sternly, jumping into a tree.

I heard him sigh again; I always seemed to frustrate him. Then he turned over and fell back to sleep. My eyes again roamed to the stars and they twinkled at me through the leaves, lulling me towards sleep. I shook my head and instead sunk back into memories.

**x Flashback x**

_I was eight. His golden eyes held mine and he grinned. _

_"You've been practicing without me, haven't you Kai?" he asked in his smooth voice. _

_I looked straight forward as he walked around me. His eyes taking in my developing muscles and how tall I was growing. _

_"Look in my eyes Kai," he ordered. _

_I looked into them and then looked away. His hand flashed out and he touched my cheek, reminding me of J'yn's gesture, but this time I blushed. I felt him smirk at me and I looked back up at him. _

_"You've grown strong Uchiha Kai and now I have someone I want you to meet. Kimimaro, come," he ordered. _

_A boy my age came out of the shadows behind him, followed by Anko, his genin at the moment. I blushed even more when I __saw her and then turned my face back into an emotionless mask. _

_My 'father' looked at me closely and then told me, "This is Kaguya Kimimaro and he will be watching over you for me while Anko and I go on a mission." _

_My eyes slid to Anko; she was five years older than me, but still I had a crush on her at the moment. My o-too-san laughed when he saw where my eyes strayed when I looked away from him. I glared at him belatedly and his laugh slowed down when my Sharingan showed itself. He whistled slightly. _

_"Three marks in both eyes Kai, you've progressed very quickly. Therefore, Kimimaro will also help you practice." he said. _

_"Hai," was all I said as I looked over at the white haired boy, he didn't seem much of a challenge. _

_O-too-san glanced between us and then looked at Anko who was waiting impatiently by his side. _

_"I shall be back in a month or so. By the time I get back I expect that Kai shall be able to beat Kimimaro and that Kimimaro will have kept Kai alive, understood?" _

_"Hai, o-too-san," I murmured and my father ruffled my hair. _

_"Hai, Orochimaru-sama," Kimimaro replied quietly, earning a slight smile. _

_Then Orochimaru left with Anko at his side. Yes, Orochimaru was my surrogate father. That was the last time I saw Anko with him, when she returned to Konoha, it was by herself and without her memory._

**x End Flashback x**

Anko... she had become so much like Orochimaru without even knowing it. Her jutsus, her movements, and her seal all made her seem like him even more and maybe that's why I had given up on her. When she had found disfavor with my o-too-san I remember forgetting about her immediately, but I had already had my eye on another girl for quite some time and it wasn't that hard. I remember knowing that this was the girl that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and then... She was beautiful, graceful, different, a strong kunoichi It didn't matter anymore, she probably had a family, she probably had forgotten all about me just like everyone else. I heard Itachi turn over underneath my tree and I wondered for a moment...If I had told her that I loved liked her, would I have left him? Just for her? I don't know NO, I loved my twin, he was more important to me than anyone else and that's how it would stay, always, bound together.

_I need to stop remembering these things; they hurt,_ I thought as I jumped out of the tree and landed beside Kisame; I shook him and when he sat up growling, I glared at him.

"It's your watch Shark Boy," I told him leeringly.

He stood up stiffly, glaring at me, as I lay down in my own sleeping bag.

"G'night Fishy," I mumbled as I fell asleep.

I felt him kick me and I chucked a kunai at his head and turned over. Instead of dreaming, I remembered.

**x Dream Flashback x**

_Kimimaro and I were in the forest for the first time, practicing. He threw one of his bones at me and I dodged. Another one came at me from behind and one from the front; I knocked them backwards with a blast of chakra. We went on like this for another few hours until the sun began to set. _

_"Where will you sleep, Kimimaro?" I asked as I collapsed on the forest floor. _

_He collapsed next to me, answering, "I'll probably just camp out here somewhere." _

_I shook my head slowly. _

_"You can sleep in my room at home," I told him, standing. _

_"But Orochimaru-sama doesn't want anyone to see me," he said worriedly as I reached down to help him up. _

_"No one will. Orochimaru is my o-too-san because the man that gave me life could care less about me, so it'll be easy to keep you away from my family" I answered smoothly. "Besides, no one comes in my room." _

_"But don't you have a twin brother?" Kimimaro asked. _

_"Don't worry. Itachi won't tell anyone about you either," I replied, one hundred percent sure. "He would never betray me." _

_Kimimaro smiled and I knew that he and I would become good friends. _

_Kimi-chan was walking with me through Konoha, disguised as a boy my age (almost nine) with dark hair and violet eyes. It was nearing the middle of the month and both of us had become much stronger and we were now good friends. Kimimaro and I shared my bed and Itachi hadn't minded at all that I was hiding a person in my bedroom. He even gave me money to help feed Kimimaro since he was doing so well on his missions and I wasn't "trained" to be a shinobi. _

_We passed by a lot of restaurants and shinobi. Finally, we reached Ichiraku's Ramen Bar and went inside. Both of us ordered and then started talking as we waited for our food to be brought. A girl came inside and, instantly, I stiffened and turned around to face the counter. _

_"What's wrong Kai-chan?" Kimimaro asked me curiously. "Is it that girl?" _

_I nodded slowly, a little hesitantly, and he grinned mischievously. _

_"She's that girl you were telling me about earlier isn't she? She's a Hyuuga; you're aiming high aren't you?" Kimimaro teased. _

_I growled and hid my head under my arms. _

_"Shut up Kimi," I muttered. _

_"Kai's got a crush" he started singing softly. _

_My eyes closed tightly and then I felt someone come up behind me. _

_"Wow, you're an Uchiha," I heard a female voice say excitedly. _

_I turned around. _

_"Yeah and you're a Hyuuga aren't you," I said calmly when I saw who it was. __**That girl...**_

_She nodded nervously when she saw my face and then a bunch of other girls came in and she sighed in relief. _

_"Well see you around, uh, what's your name?" she asked. _

_"I'm Uchiha Kai," I answered easily. _

_"I'm Hyuuga Akari," she told me, bowing. "I'll see you around Kai. Oh, by the way, are you related to Uchiha Itachi?" _

_I thought for a moment. __**Is it safe to tell her that I'm his twin, or will father punish me later?**_

_"Yes, he's my brother," I said. __**There not exactly lying.**_

_"Oh, okay. Bye!" she called as she walked over to the other girls. _

_Kimimaro had watched the whole exchange silently and when I turned back to him, his face was torn between laughter and pain. _

_"What?" I asked cluelessly. _

_That's when the laughter won and he started cracking up. I bonked him over the head and then our food came. By the end of the meal, Akari and the other girls had started the Uchiha Kai fan club; Kimimaro and I had to run home... with him laughing all the way. _

_I glared at Kimimaro, he was in big trouble. _

_"I can't believe you did that Kimi-chan," I whined as I finished messing with my hair. "Why'd you ask Akari out...and for me too!" _

_"Because you never would've done it if I hadn't," he told me, handing me a clan shirt that Itachi had given me secretly for our ninth birthday a couple of days ago; I put it on and walked out the door. "See you later." _

_"Yeah, bye, whatever. Just hurry up and get to her house I told her you'd pick her up by six," Kimimaro told me anxiously. "Oh and here," he handed me an iris, "give her that. I heard her tell someone they were her favorite." _

_I glanced at the clock and hightailed it over to the Hyuuga compound to pick up Akari for the first date of many. _

_It was the end of the month and o-too-san had come back by himself to pick up Kimimaro and check on my progress. Kimi-chan and I were locked in battle; our strength and stamina had increased a lot during our training, making it hard for one of us to beat the other. Finally, I used my Sharingan and brought him down easily. _

_O-too-san clapped for both of us as we got up. I went over to check on Kimi-chan and helped him to get over to Orochimaru-sama. We grinned at each other; it had been a good fight. _

_"Very good Kai; you too Kimimaro," he told us quietly. "You have both come a long way and now it is time for you two to part ways." _

_I glanced at Kimimaro sadly, we had known this was coming, but still, I would miss him. _

_"Will I see Kimimaro-chan again, o-too-san?" I asked sadly as he went to stand by Orochimaru. _

_"Hai, you will, Kai, you will," was all he said. "I will come check on your progress next time I can, while I am gone train with your brother and Jadyn understood?" _

_I nodded and bowed. _

_"Hai, o-too-san," I murmured, turning to go after looking at Kimimaro one more time. _

_"Oh and Kai," Orochimaru started, I turned around, "remember why I told you to befriend Jadyn, don't forget. Kimimaro may be your friend, but Jadyn is..." _

_I closed my eyes slowly, I loved Kimi-chan, but my relationship with J'yn was different, it had a purpose. _

_"Hai, Orochimaru-sama," I answered as I walked away._

**x End Dream Flashback x**

The sky was still grey when Kisame woke me up. The first thing I did was try to kill him because I thought he was an assassin, but I calmed down pretty quickly, especially after Itachi shot us a glare for being so loud. Today was the day that we'd be passing through Konoha and I was excited.

"We didn't get another mission did we?" I asked Itachi as we broke camp.

"No, we are just supposed to return to the hideout," was all he said, he really isn't a morning person.

As I tried to tie my sleeping bag's tie, my eyes blurred and for a moment I couldn't see. I shook my head and the blurriness went away. _My eyes...the price of the Mangekyou Sharingan...part of it..._

**x Flashback x**

_Jadyn was looking at me with fear in his eyes, the fear of an animal that has no where to run and has been cornered. My eyes were red, the Sharingan, glaring at him. He was so pathetic. _

_"Konichiwa J'yn," I mocked him as I moved closer, using his nickname. _

_He flinched as I came closer and I smirked at him. _

_"Scared?" I asked him, still mocking him as I moved closer, my eyes holding him in place, keeping him from screaming. _

_I circled him silently and was finally standing back in front of him. My eyes held no regret as I grabbed his hair, bringing his head closer to me. _

_"You forgot about me, J'yn, just like everyone else," I murmured, forcing him to his knees. _

_Then, I slit his throat. His blood gushed over my hands and that's when I gained my Mangekyou, the moment my best friend died. That was the moment that my friendship with him fulfilled the purpose that my o-too-san had set for it, to make me stronger. That night, Jadyn died, he was almost sixteen and I was barely fourteen. That was the beginning of the end._

**x End Flashback x**

My mind was brought back to the present when Itachi called for us to stop...we'd arrived at Konoha. I hadn't even realized that we'd been running or how much time had passed. It was nearly noon and we'd covered a lot of ground.

We decided that Kisame would stay outside of the gates, in the forests, and he would help us if we got into any trouble. Itachi and I reversed our Akatsuki cloaks and used genjutsu to alter our appearances to match those of the passports that we had "borrowed". By the time all of that was done it was around two o'clock. We walked up to the guard station and presented our passports. Itachi was posing as my father and I was being... a little girl.

"Can't I at least be a boy," I complained as we finished at the checkpoint and walked into the city.

"Fine," he muttered and I slipped into an alley and came out as a boy around the same age as Sasuke.

Itachi just shook his head at me and we continued to walk towards the Uchiha compound. As we neared it and the sun went down, we ended the genjutsus and returned to our normal forms.

"Konoha hasn't changed much at all has it, nii-san," I murmured as we stood outside the gates of the compound.

"It hasn't changed at all, just more people," he replied as we slid into the compound and wandered towards our house, reliving the scenes of our massacre at every place we walked past.

Finally we stood at our house. We walked in and each of us went towards our respective rooms. I merely glanced in mine, remembering what that man that had called himself my father had done to me.

**x Flashback x**

_"Baka!" the man who was supposedly my father roared at me. "You were forbidden to become a shinobi. Do I have to spell it out for you? You are worthless, much more worthless than either of your brothers! And you call yourself an Uchiha! You can't even perform the Sharingan!" _

_The man had found my training gear and was now in a rage. He never did this to my brothers, only me. He was loving and kind toward them, but towards me he was brutal. I was given one of the worst beatings I ever suffered at his hands, then he shut the door and left. My o-kaa-san came in later and bandaged me, but she never told me she loved me. I was glad when I killed them; they'd caused me so much pain and now they were gone._

**x End Flashback x**

I walked upstairs to the rest of the family's rooms and met Itachi coming out of his. Sasuke's bedroom was right across the hall and we walked silently over to the door and opened it.

Sasuke was asleep on the bed, curled up into a ball, sweating and sobbing. The nightmares still visited him; that was good. I glared at him; he was pathetic, just like J'yn. Itachi thought that one day he would kill us and I believed him, but Sasuke was weak right now and I didn't know how he would become more powerful.

_Unless my o-too-san teaches him..._ I thought absentmindedly as I sat down on the bed.

"Hey Sasuke," I murmured into his ear, Itachi glaring at me for my foolishness. "You still lack hatred baka, and until you get that, you will never kill me or anyone. The strong live and the weak die, that is all you need know."

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes opened and he saw my face, etched with pain and thoughtfulness. Then I sent him back to sleep with a hit from my Sharingan.

Itachi's eyes were disapproving as we left the compound.

"I'll meet you outside the walls where we left Kisame," I mumbled, jumping away and toward another compound.

I used genjutsu to make myself appear as a little boy with violet eyes and dark hair, the same disguise Kimimaro had worn when he'd met Akari. I knocked on the gate and the sound echoed down the dark street and into the night.

"Yes?" asked a pale-eyed man when he opened up the gate.

"I have a message for Hyuuga Akari," I said, seemingly shy.

The Hyuuga's eyes seemed to soften and he nodded, thinking.

"Akari...Akari...hmmmmm," he muttered. "Ah! Akari's on a mission right now, you can give the message to me and I'll tell her."

I nodded and handed him an iris, which had been my special present to her.

"And the man told me to say 'Remember me...'," I told the gate man.

"Mistress Akari hasn't received irises in a very long time, this will make her very happy," the man told me as I bowed and started to walk away. "Oh, yes, what was the man's name?"

I looked as if I was thinking for a moment and then answered him, "He said it was...Kimi-chan."

That's all I said before I ran off. I met up with Itachi and Kisame outside the gates and we continued on our way to the hideout; we would reach it by midnight.

**x Flashback x**

_Itachi knew that Orochimaru was my adopted father, but he had never met him. I had told him a long time ago and since then I had learned that he was the Snake Sannin. I hadn't seen o-too-san or Akari since we had slaughtered the clan. I'd spent one special night with Akari out in the forest and said my good-byes that way, by giving her one thing and taking another. I'd left her alone in the morning to find her own way home, by the time she got there, my whole clan was dead. With o-too-san though, I'd never said good-bye and I'd never seen Kimimaro again. So imagine my surprise when Itachi and I joined the Akatsuki and there was my o-too-san. _

_"Orochimaru-sama!" I said in surprise when I'd first seen him. _

_"Kai?" he'd asked uncertainly as I looked at him in amazement. _

_"O-too-san, I haven't seen you in so long," I said as I came and kneeled before him. _

_He looked at me in surprise too. _

_"Kai, you are so strong," he murmured, reaching down and pulling me up. "You slaughtered your whole clan along with your brother and you possess the Mangekyou as I wished you to, don't you?" _

_I nodded slightly and looked into his face only to see his desire, desire to do something. To possess my power? _

_"And who would this be?" he asked, his gaze on Itachi who had come up behind me. _

_"My o-nii-san," I said as I introduced them. _

_A few weeks later, Orochimaru left and I was alone again... except for Itachi. _

**x End Flashback x**

We were almost at the hideout when we were ambushed by a group of ANBU, Konohagakure ANBU. There were about twenty of them and they stood between us and our way home.

"Kill them all, no mercy," Itachi said and Kisame and I nodded.

Then the fight began. Itachi and I took out about ten ANBU with the Mangekyou and then we moved on to the other ten without a thought. Kisame had already killed two of them and so there were only eight left to deal with. I ended up with three of them, Itachi had two, and Kisame had three. I took out two of my ANBU easily, but the last one moved as if they'd seen through all of my moves. My eyesight was blurring again, so I turned off my Sharingan and just started attacking them without other's moves, only mine.

"You should feel lucky," I told them. "You are one of the only ones to ever fight one of the Demon Brothers with their own moves."

The ANBU growled and I heard them mutter, "Byakugan."

Their fighting stance shifted into that of the gentle fist technique and I backed up, laughing. This might actually be fun.

**x Half an Hour Later x**

I was toying with the ANBU now and they knew it. I could've killed them long ago and it wouldn't have been a challenge, but now it was just for amusement. I chucked kunai and shuriken at them, trying to knock their mask off. It cracked and half of it slipped off, all I could see was that it was a girl and she had a fully developed Byakugan.

"Stop playing Kai," Kisame grumbled. "You can practice when we get back to the hideout, just kill her."

"Fine," I groaned, running at her. _This was it..._

I landed inside her defense and she immediately tried to attack me. Instead, I used my Mangekyou on her and joined her inside her pain, inside her mind.

There were tears streaming down her face as she relived the worst moments in her life and then she would die. _Wait...I know these, I lived them..._

There was Akari and me in the forest on the night before I left. My lips were on hers and she was moaning into my mouth as my hands roamed over her. We eventually fell asleep, her cuddled in my arms. Then, I was gone and she was alone.

"Remember me, hate me, and one day I will come back for you and you will kill me..." I murmured in her ear before I left her.

I was ripped from her mind as she began to die.

"Akari!" I screamed, running towards her body as it slumped towards the ground.

I slipped the rest of the mask off her face and my onyx eyes were met by her pale ones.

"Hey Kai, I got your iris..." she mumbled, "...and now I want to tell you something. I remembered you... I tried to hate you, but I couldn't... I loved you too much. So I waited for you to come back so that I could tell you, but you never did... And now you killed me..."

Her breath was rattling in her throat and I realized that she was just talking to herself now. She couldn't hear me and she couldn't see me. To her, I was dead and she was going to see the boy that she'd fallen in love with all those years ago...not me. And that's when I felt something inside me give up hope and finally die. I realized something; I'd given up my old life all those years ago, when I killed the clan with my brother. We were no longer the same people and we could never go back. The people we'd loved and who'd loved us no longer did, they loved shadows of the past...not us and so we were different people, completely different...

I dropped her, even though she was still alive. I was not the person she'd loved; she'd loved another boy, someone who was dead. I stood up and walked away from all my illusions and truly became what I had claimed to be...a demon...

But I remember that as I walked away from Hyuuga Akari's body I said something that made even my brother stop in his tracks...

"They will remember us, they will hate us, and one day, when we get tired of this life and try to go back, we will die because we are not the same people that started this life. It's all over for us; we've fallen over the edge and gone to the place where no one should go... we no longer have souls. We are dead inside, Akari, and so I am no longer the one you knew, who you loved. I'm Uchiha Kai, one of the Akatsuki's Demon Brothers..."

My eyes closed for a moment and when I opened them back up, they were the demonic red of the Sharingan.

"Let's go," I ordered coldly, devoid of emotion; my last illusions had died, I was a killer and I knew it.

For once, Kisame and my brother obeyed me...


End file.
